Former U.S. treasurer pushes immigration reform

By Elaine Ayala :
October 2, 2013
: Updated: October 2, 2013 11:19pm

Rosario Marin, U.S. treasurer under President George W. Bush, said the way to advance immigration reform is by breaking a comprehensive bill into smaller bits of legislation.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Rosario Marin speaks Wednesday October 2, 2013 during an Immigration Policy Session held by the Texas Business Leadership Council at the Embassy Suites Riverwalk Hotel. Marin is the former U.S. Treasurer under President George W. Bush and is the only U.S. Treasurer ever born outside of the United States.

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Rosario Marin, who served as U.S. treasurer under President George W. Bush, told the Texas Business Leadership Council here Wednesday that 27 years of failed attempts at immigration reform point to only one way out of Washington's quagmire — break the comprehensive bill into smaller pieces of legislation.

Marin, the nation's 41st treasurer and the first immigrant to serve in that capacity, now heads the American Competitiveness Alliance, which she said has been at the forefront of educating Congress about the nation's immigration needs in the 21st century.

Among the issues it has most pressed Congress about is attracting science, technology, engineering and mathematics workers, she said.

Despite the shortage of STEM graduates, the Senate's most recent version of the immigration bill “backslides” on the issue, Marin said, imposing tougher limits on H-1B visas and adding fees for their employers.

To underscore the consequences to the U.S. economy, she quoted a billboard in California. “H-1B problems?” it asks, followed by the suggestion, “Pivot to Canada,” a country she said aggressively recruits high-skilled foreign workers.

“We train them and send them to our competitors,” Marin said. “It's not a blue state-red state issue. It's not a Republican or Democratic issue. It's an American issue.”

Her luncheon speech was preceded by a session on the business realities of U.S. immigration policies, featuring Eddie Aldrete of IBC Bank in San Antonio and longtime Houston restaurateur Brad Bailey, CEO of Texas Immigration Solution.